And then ...

Sunday

Dogs, circus acts, lost boys, comic-strip characters and a marching band were among those who attracted the attention of Dispatch arts and entertainment reporters.

A pair of young twin inventors, a scenic courthouse, a World War II veteran and a sharply dressed third-grader drew notice from Dispatch features reporters.

Dogs, circus acts, lost boys, comic-strip characters and a marching band were among those who attracted the attention of Dispatch arts and entertainment reporters.

A pair of young twin inventors, a scenic courthouse, a World War II veteran and a sharply dressed third-grader drew notice from Dispatch features reporters.

On this next-to-last-day of 2007, we update some of the stories featured throughout the year in Arts & Life (and Life & Arts).

Lost Boys of Sudan: Going home for reunion

Returning home seemed impossible two decades ago, when 6-year-olds Jok Dau and Bol Aweng fled their Sudanese village during an attack.

The two walked together across Africa to safety, lived in refugee camps and, eventually, pursued studies at Ohio State University.

For the first time since they were children, Dau and Aweng, both 26, reunited this month with their families in Sudan.

"There is now a little bit of peace, so we decided we should go and do a family reunion," said Dau, whose two brothers were killed in Sudan.

Dau and Aweng were in the Kenyan refugee camp depicted in the film God Grew Tired of Us.

A screening of the documentary, about some of the 25,000 Lost Boys of Sudan, took place in the spring at the Drexel East theater (May 11, Life & Arts). In June, the friends became American citizens -- "a great joy," said Dau, a major in international relations and diplomacy.

Both men frequently speak publicly about their experiences.

"All of those crises that happened to us are still going on all over the world," said Aweng, a fine-arts major. "We need people to know what happened to us so it won't happen to anyone else."

-- Sherri Williams

sherri.williams@dispatch.com

Wegman exhibit: Attracting record crowds

Man's best friend is a Wexner pal, too.

"William Wegman: Funney/Strange," ending today at the Wexner Center for the Arts, has been doggone popular.

The New York artist's quirky photographs of weimaraners are a main element of the exhibition, a 40-year retrospective of his career (Sept. 16, Arts & Life).

"It has been a runaway hit," said Wexner Center spokeswoman Karen Simonian.

"We had over a thousand (visitors) on the day after Thanksgiving. And it's been in the hundreds on weekend days, plus high traffic during weekdays."

Membership increased 27 percent at the center in the fall, largely because of Wegman, Simonian said.

The exhibit will probably equal the popularity of 2002's "Mood River" (contemporary design and art) and the 1999-2000 exhibit "Julie Taymor: Playing With Fire." The center drew more than 100,000 visitors for each.

-- Bill Mayr

billmayr@mac.com

Cancer cartoon: Continuing the fight

Lisa's Story is far from over.

Sales from the book compiled by Funky Winkerbean creator Tom Batiuk are raising money for cancer research.

The Akron cartoonist didn't intend a happy ending for his character. She had breast cancer, and people all too often die of it. So did Lisa Moore, in a strip in early October.

The strips that followed Lisa's odyssey were collected in Lisa's Story, published in the fall by Kent State University (Nov. 8, Life & Arts). In Cleveland, University Hospitals set up a book-signing that led to the creation of Lisa's Legacy Fund, which has raised $107,000 for the Ireland Cancer Center.

"I guess the biggest surprise for me so far," Batiuk said, "is the people I've met who are currently in the midst of dealing either with their own cancer or that of a loved one, who expressed to me their thanks for Lisa's Story."

-- Bill Eichenberger

beichenberger@dispatch.com

Cirque du Soleil: Planning a possible return

Cirque du Soleil probably won't return for a multiweek run until 2009, but an arena-style show with a shorter run remains a 2008 possibility.

Rachel Andrews, Cirque spokeswoman, said Columbus might be added later to the schedule for Saltimbanco, an older Cirque hit recently adapted into an arena-style production for short runs.

Based in Montreal, the French Canadian art circus has presented a major show here every two years since 2003.

Corteo (May 6, Life & Arts) attracted more than 61,000 people during a one-month run in May and June at the Ohio Expo Center. The clown-centered fantasia didn't attract as many people as Arena District productions of Dralion (2003) and Varekai (2005), raising a question about whether the circus would return.

Columbus, Andrews hinted, still is a good prospect for one of two shows set to tour North America in 2009: an untitled production, to premiere in Montreal that spring; and Kooza, Cirque's newest touring show, which combines acrobatic performance and the art of clowning.

-- Michael Grossberg

mgrossberg@dispatch.com

Contemporary creators: Looking for a new home

The clock is ticking for Junctionview Studios, the Grandview Heights warehouse with work space available for rent to 50 artists.

The 25,000-square-foot building is also home to Agora Columbus -- a twice-yearly, community-minded show that attracts contemporary artists of all walks and mediums (Oct. 15, Life & Arts).

The next Agora is scheduled for April 18-19, but there's a good chance it won't be at Junctionview, said artist Adam Brouillette, one of the organizers.

In August, two central Ohio development companies -- Equity and Nationwide Realty Investors -- purchased the former Big Bear warehouse and recently announced mixed-use plans for the industrial area.

The building's artists are planning for the inevitable but are also pushing ahead.

"The Agora is going to go on, no matter what -- we have no plans on stopping it," said Brouillette, president of a local network of artists called the Couchfire Collective, whose members are on the hunt for a new building.

-- Kevin Joy

kjoy@dispatch.com

Symphony quest: Increasing support

After experiencing a record deficit last season, the Columbus Symphony is taking steps to ensure better news next year, when contract negotiations are expected to resume with musicians.

Executive Director Tony Beadle said signs of progress include National City Bank's sponsorship of the 2007-08 Classical season for the first time, an increase in 2007-08 subscriptions of 6 percent from the previous season, increased ticket sales for Holiday Pops performances, enhanced education programs and the preparation of a new strategic business plan, to be released in March.

The 2006-07 deficit -- initially projected to be at least $2.3 million, or about three times that of the previous season (Sept. 7, Life & Arts) -- was a bit lower at a (still-record) $2.17 million, Beadle said.

Burdened by almost-annual deficits and a current budget of about $11.5 million with mostly fixed expenses, the symphony faces a "structural issue" that must be resolved, Beadle said.

"It's a tricky path to sustainability ...We need to right the ship," he said, before asking the community for major additional support.

The issue could affect union negotiations, which are expected to begin before the four-year musicians' contract expires Aug. 31.

-- M.G.

Unified campaign: Facing a budget challenge

Efforts to launch central Ohio's first unified arts campaign have received positive reactions from community leaders but face an uphill battle because of tight city and county budgets.

Arts leaders hope to raise $4 million a year for three years to stabilize the area's leading arts groups (Nov. 9, A1).

The Columbus Cultural Leadership Consortium, which represents 16 major arts organizations, is asking Franklin County and the city of Columbus for $1 million each from their 2008 budgets to form the foundation of a $2 million matching-fund campaign aimed at corporations, foundations and private individuals.

The money hasn't been included in the county budget, finalized Dec. 18, or the city budget, likely to be approved in January or February.

But Press Southworth, consortium chairman, isn't discouraged.

"We've shown a lot of people that we now have a united group that's working very hard to do the best we can to improve the arts and culture in our community," he said. "We're optimistic that we will move forward."

-- M.G.

Annual festival: Moving inland

Columbus Arts Festival officials are quietly working to move the annual event from the Downtown riverfront to the Discovery District (April 24, Metro & State).

"Anytime you move something big there are logistical challenges, but we're actually finding that folks in the Discovery District are bending over backward to really help us out," said Emily Swartzlander, director of marketing and communications for the Greater Columbus Arts Council, which oversees the festival. "It's been, knock on wood, surprisingly easy so far."

Because of riverfront construction, a portion of the Discovery District -- an area bounded by I-670 on the north, I-71 on the east, I-70/71 on the south and 6th Street on the west -- will host the festival beginning next year and through 2011.

The event will be three days (June 6-8) instead of four, Swartzlander said. A main stage will be set up on the grounds of Columbus State Community College. There also will be cooperative events with Columbus State and the Columbus College of Art & Design, and the Columbus Museum of Art will have free admission that weekend.

"Believe it or not," Swartzlander said, "there are about 20,000 parking spaces, all right in that district."

-- Gary Budzak

gbudzak@dispatch.com

ArtSpace: Surveying needs

ArtSpace, a national organization dedicated to providing affordable spaces in which artists live and work (Aug. 1, Life & Arts), is moving forward with plans to identify and renovate a building for Columbus artists.

The Minneapolis-based organization will conduct a $35,000 online survey of artists over the next three to six months to identify artists' needs and help determine the location of the space. The Columbus City Council, JPMorgan Chase and the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. helped pay for the survey.

At that point, the Greater Columbus Arts Council and city officials will work with ArtSpace to choose a site and raise the $2 million to $3 million necessary to renovate the space for at least 40 artists.

-- M.G.

Grove City band: Finishing a winner

The Grove City High School marching band, which was profiled in the fall (Sept. 30, Arts & Life), had a successful season, director George Edge said.

The band finished first in four competitions, including the Buckeye Invitational, which featured 30 high-school bands at Ohio Stadium.

It also won a superior rating -- the highest given -- in the Ohio Music Education Association state marching-band finals. The Grove City band has been rated superior every year since 1980, Edge said.

-- Joe Blundo

jblundo@dispatch.com

Theater's birthday: Shooting a tribute

Central Ohio filmmaker Tim Baldwin is pushing ahead on his video project to celebrate the 70th anniversary in February of Studio 35, the neighborhood movie theater at 3055 Indianola Ave. (Aug. 12, Life & Arts).

Baldwin said he has shot about 20 interviews with theater fans for his short documentary intended to precede a screening.

"I've gone over all the interviews and transcribed them, and will start editing over the Christmas season and New Year's," Baldwin reported.

Baldwin has about six more to shoot, including interviews with former owners Frank Marzetti and John Conti.

Baldwin also interviewed Mariam Bell, who attended the first performance at the theater in 1938.

"She remembered a lot from that night," he said.

The owners plan to celebrate the theater's anniversary by booking February as a "Classic Movies Month," highlighted by an anniversary party on Feb. 17 with Baldwin's video and a screening of Stage Door, the first feature shown at the theater on Feb. 8, 1938.

-- Frank Gabrenya

fgabrenya@dispatch.com

Museum's Monets: Sprouting strong interest

The Columbus Museum of Art has capitalized on the popularity of French impressionist Claude Monet with "In Monet's Garden: The Lure of Giverny," continuing through Jan. 20.

The exhibit features several Monet paintings as well as art made by others during the past century-plus who were influenced by the idyllic gardens of Monet's home in Giverny (Oct. 7, Arts & Life).

Thanks to the exhibition, "Attendance topped 200,000 this year -- something we haven't accomplished since 1999, when we presented 'Chihuly Over Venice,' " museum spokeswoman Nancy Colvin said.

Hopes are that the popularity carries over to the expansion and endowment fundraising drive.

Colvin said the effort has raised more than $40 million of its $80 million goal.

The museum in May announced the project, saying it had raised $38 million (May 12, A1).

Colvin said plans are on track to break ground in 2010 for an expansion of the E. Broad Street facility that would increase its size by two-thirds.

Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, of New York, is developing designs for the project.

-- Bill Mayr billmayr@mac.com

'Dead' film: Aiming for a premiere

Chardon native Edward Douglas remains a busy man -- although shooting on his movie The Dead Matter wrapped in mid-September.

The co-writer and director of the zombie-vampire movie is editing the rough cut of the film shot entirely in Ohio -- including scenes at the old Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield (Aug. 27, Metro & State).

Douglas, who runs Midnight Syndicate Films out of Chardon, is also working on the musical score.

The cast and crew of The Dead Matter is about "90 percent Ohioans," Douglas said.

Digital effects will be added in the months ahead by Precinct 13 Entertainment, a production company in Crestline. Its owner -- longtime filmmaker Robert Kurtzman, a Crestline native -- is one of the film's producers.

The Dead Matter will end up costing "somewhere under $2 million," Douglas said. Once the rough cut is finished, the director hopes to settle on a distributor and release the film -- either on DVD or in theaters -- by the end of next year.

The horror movie stars Andrew Divoff (Lost, the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and Tom Savini (Grindhouse).

-- Nick Chordas

nchordas@dispatch.com

BalletMet Columbus: Moving along with its plan

The company's 30th-anniversary season counted a number of successes: Every performance (including standing-room-only tickets) was sold out for the "30x30" production of 30 new works by 30 choreographers (Aug. 19, Arts & Life); the company's new performance space will be followed by another building project to connect the Dance Centre with the performance space; the company exceeded its capital campaign goal of $6.15 million; and a satellite location opened in Gahanna's Vista Plaza in September.

-- Tim Feran

tferan@dispatch.com

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